Histrionic Personality
"Histrionic personality {divergence} (HPD ) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality {divergence} characterized by a pattern of excessive attention-seeking emotions, usually beginning in early adulthood, including inappropriately seductive behavior and an excessive need for approval. Histrionic people are lively, dramatic, vivacious, enthusiastic, and flirtatious. HPD affects four times as many women as men.Seligman, Martin E.P. (1984). "Chapter 11". Abnormal Psychology. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-94459-X. It affects 2–3% of the general population and 10–15% in inpatient and outpatient mental health institutions."Chapter 16: Personality Disorders". DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. American Psychiatric Publishing. 2000."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder Traits "A mnemonic that can be used to remember the characteristics of histrionic personality {divergence} is shortened as "PRAISE ME":Pinkofsky, HB (September 1997). "Mnemonics for DSM-IV personality disorders". Psychiatric services. Washington, D.C. 48 (9): 1197–8. PMID 9285984. doi:10.1176/ps.48.9.1197."Personality Disorders". March 2001. Retrieved May 2,2006. * 'P'rovocative (or seductive) behavior * 'R'elationships are considered more intimate than they actually are * 'A'ttention-seeking * 'I'nfluenced easily by others or circumstances * 'S'peech (style) wants to impress; lacks detail * 'E'motional lability; shallowness * 'M'ake-up; physical appearance is used to draw attention to self * 'E'xaggerated emotions; theatrical" "Theodore Millon identified six subtypes of histrionic personality {divergence}. Any individual histrionic may exhibit none or one of the following:Millon, Theodore (2004). Personality Disorders in Modern Life. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. ISBN: 0-471-23734-5. Causes :"An example of over-zealousness could be compared to the famous "grande hystérie", a well-known demonstration of hypnotism by Jean-Martin Charcot by using his best-known subject, Blanche Wittmann. Wittmann was known for her attractiveness and ability to make herself the center of attention, based on her hysteria and lavish performance.Fancher, R.E. & Rutherford, A. (2012). Pioneers of psychology. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder#Causes |MindDisorders.com:/Flu-Inv/Histrionic personality disorder> :"HPD has a unique position among the personality disorders in that it is the only personality disorder explicitly connected to a patient's physical appearance. Researchers have found that HPD appears primarily in men and women with above-average physical appearances. Some research has suggested that the connection between HPD and physical appearance holds for women rather than for men." :"There is a lack of research on the causes of HPD. Even though the causes for the disorder are not definitively known, it is thought that HPD may be caused by biological, developmental, cognitive, and social factors." :"Most psychoanalysts agree that a traumatic childhood contributes towards the development of HPD. Some theorists suggest that the more severe forms of HPD derive from disapproval in the early mother-child relationship. :Another component of Freud's theory is the defense mechanism. Defense mechanisms are sets of systematic, unconscious methods that people develop to cope with conflict and to reduce anxiety. According to Freud's theory, all people use defense mechanisms, but different people use different types of defense mechanisms. Individuals with HPD differ in the severity of the maladaptive defense mechanisms they use. Patients with more severe cases of HPD may utilize the defense mechanisms of repression, denial , and dissociation." :"Studies of specific cultures with high rates of HPD suggest social and cultural causes of HPD. For example, some researchers would expect to find this disorder more often among cultures that tend to value uninhibited displays of emotion." Gender Bias |MindDisorders.com:/Flu-Inv/Histrionic personality disorder> :"Clinicians tend to diagnose HPD more frequently in females; however, when structured assessments are used to diagnose HPD, clinicians report approximately equal prevalence rates for males and females. In considering the prevalence of HPD, it is important to recognize that gender role stereotypes may influence the behavioral display of HPD and that women and men may display HPD symptoms differently." History The modern diagnosis of HPD developed from the earlier designation of 'hysteria', which was primarily applied to women whose reaction to their oppressed status in colonial patriarchy was anything less than complete subservience and submission. As a major historical neurodivergent group that was dominantly female, it is plausible to consider that many women diagnosed with 'hysteria' were actually Autistic and fill part of the historical gaps as we trace undiagnosed Autism through history. This is supported by the fact that one of the defining traits of extreme cases of hysteria were epileptic seizures (epilepsy being highly co-morbid with Autism). Hysteria The history of 'hysteria' stretches back all the way to the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians: "Hysteria, from the ancient Greek word for uterus, was a nervous illness long associated exclusively with women. Symptoms differed from patient to patient and from one historical period to another, but they always involved both the body and the mind. Some characteristic symptoms included shortness of breath, heaviness in the abdomen, muscular spasms and fainting. Anxiety, irritability and embarrassing or unusual behaviour were also noted."http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/hysteria "The philosopher Plato described the uterus as an animal. He said it roamed inside women’s bodies, causing symptoms as it moved. This idea had existed for millennia. An Egyptian papyrus dating from about 1900 BCE includes recipes for medicines to coax a ‘wandering uterus’ back to its proper place in the body. The Galenic physicians who came after Plato, and had gained better knowledge of internal anatomy, rejected the idea the uterus could drift. However, medical explanations for hysterical symptoms remained vague for centuries." "Hysteria received intense attention during the late 1800s. The French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot proposed hysteria was an inherited nerve disease, similar to multiple sclerosis, and that it was not a ‘sexual problem’ unique to women. ... Sigmund Freud had studied with Charcot. In 1895 Freud proposed hysteria was rooted in unconscious conflicts rather than weak nerves. He believed hysterical symptoms developed when memories too painful or too embarrassing to talk about were converted into bodily symptoms. Freud called this ‘conversion hysteria’. He renounced hypnosis and held extended and intimate discussions with patients. His techniques became known as psychoanalysis. ... The term gradually fell out of medical use, but remained in common usage. Many feminist writers of the 1960s and 1970s used the history of the term to criticise psychoanalysis. They argued that Freud’s focus on ‘sexual conflicts’ merely cloaked old ideas about hysteria behind new words." Legacy The term "hissy fit" refers to a type of frantic tantrum and is suspected to be derived from the word 'hysterical'https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/40603/what-is-the-origin-of-hissy-fit. Stigma (TW: discussion of harmful ableist ideas and notions about developmentally disabled people) Ableist stigma occurs for people with all neurodivergences, however personality divergences are specifically stigmatized today, since even mainstream media and institutions still perpetuate harmful ableist ideas about people with dramatic personality divergences as being manipulative, Examples Blanche DuBois SomeNew York University - Human Condition Curated - A Streetcar Named Desirehttp://outofthefog.website/movies/2015/12/8/a-streetcar-named-desire (TW: implications of 'narcissistic abuse') have described the female lead, Blanche DuBois, of Tennessee Williams' famous play "A Streetcar Named Desire" as being typical of a person with HPD: "A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the greatest and most influential literary works of the 20th century. Volumes have been written about the author’s use of poetic imagery and the play’s superb balance between humor and tragedy. In addition, we have in the character of Blanche Dubois a fully realized, perfectly convincing case study in psychopathology. This was surely influenced by the author’s sister Rose, who provided inspiration as well for his earlier The Glass Menagerie, and who, following a prefrontal lobotomy, spent the remainder of her life institutionalized." "The author increasingly employs descriptions such as “hysterically,” “nervously” and “neurasthenic.” We witness Blanche in an inappropriate sexual encounter with an underage delivery boy; soon afterwards she employs the ego defense mechanism of reaction formation in her prudish behavior towards Mitch. We also see her experience a traumatic flashback of her husband’s suicide. Finally, we watch her regress to a childlike state, and her rescue by the fatherly, benevolent figure of the doctor." "Furthermore, while the text fully supports a diagnosis of severe Posttraumatic Stress {divergence} (plus Histrionic Personality {divergence} and Alcohol Abuse) the film appears to suggest that Blanche is suffering from a psychotic {divergence} (i.e. schizophrenia). Practically speaking, it can still be tricky to differentiate between the two." Blanche Wittmann (see Blanche Wittmann) "Traits such as extravagance, vanity, and seductiveness of hysteria have similar qualities to women diagnosed with HPD.Barlow, H.D. & Durand, V.M. (2005). Personality Disorders. (pp.443–444). Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Wadsworth. An example of over-zealousness could be compared to the famous "grande hystérie", a well-known demonstration of hypnotism by Jean-Martin Charcot by using his best-known subject, Blanche Wittmann. Wittmann was known for her attractiveness and ability to make herself the center of attention, based on her hysteria and lavish performance." Bertha ("Anna O") Pappenheim "Anna O" (real name Bertha Pappenheim) was the pseudonym used to describe a patient in Freud's first paper on "Hysteria", she is sometimes referred to as the first patient of psychoanalysishttp://www.richardwebster.net/freudandcharcot.html. Pappenheim showed several common symptoms and comorbidities of both autism and epilepsy including selective mutism, extreme anxiety, dissociation, imagined smells, complex partial seizures and disordered eating. Rather than viewing her conditions as neurological and partially trauma-induced, Freud viewed them as purely a psychological response to her father falling ill, gaslighting her in a manner that set the trend for how psychiatry has treated neurodivergent women's trauma ever since. References Category:Personality Divergences Category:Mental Health Category:Disability